


Burning the Candle

by lindsaytugg_jones (Ahwuum)



Series: Jerevin giving each other some good TLC [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - GTA V, Alternate Universe - Grand Theft Auto Setting, Fake AH Crew, Fluff, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Jeremy gives Gav a shower but it's not sexual, M/M, t rating for swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:54:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21534061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ahwuum/pseuds/lindsaytugg_jones
Summary: Gavin pushes himself a little too far after a heist, so Jeremy gives him some good TLC.
Relationships: Jeremy Dooley/Gavin Free
Series: Jerevin giving each other some good TLC [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1552714
Comments: 17
Kudos: 82





	Burning the Candle

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to post this unedited since it's late, so please let me know if there's any mistakes!! I'll probably go through and fix them in the morning :)

It’s all over so quickly, just like all their heists; get in, grab the goods, get out and try not to get caught by the cops. It’s  _ easy _ . At this point Jeremy’s just wondering when they’ll all get bored, when they’ll start escalating their dangerous stunts to the point of being suicidal.

For now, though, the adrenaline is still kicking in his system and he’s riding the high of his favourite drug. He’s riding the elevator to the penthouse, ripping his gloves off and giving his face a good scrub with his warm and sweaty hands. He knows once the adrenaline crash comes, he’ll be out like a light all night and most of tomorrow, so he’s still mulling over what to do with this extra buzzing in his veins.

Could go back out and join the others at the bar, sure, could get wasted, get fighty with Michael and probably wake up to a smattering of bruises in the morning, but… He’s just not in the mood for it. He’s not sure what exactly he  _ is  _ in the mood for, which is why he’s still deciding, thinking about how it might be nice to hit the gym after a nice long shower to wash off all the dried blood caked under his fingernails and under his nose where one of the guards at the bank had decked him in a last ditch escape attempt.

He probably still has brains splattered all over his face from Ryan blasting the guy before Jeremy could even hit the floor.

Of course, if he had a shower, there’d be the possibility that it’d just drain all his energy, make him all warm and limp and ready for bed in a heartbeat; showers tend to do that to him.

Before he can really commit to a decision, the elevator dings and the doors open up to the penthouse. Jeremy sighs, heading off to his room so he can at least get changed, but stopping when he notices Gavin’s door ajar. 

He’d completely forgotten about Gavin, thinking he’d have the place to himself to do whatever he wanted for once (like they all didn’t just do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted in the first place), but he’d completely glossed over the fact that Gavin had stayed back at base for the heist.

Actually, Gavin had stayed back at base for most of the planning, too, always busy with side-jobs or researching some security, planning future jobs and working on solutions whenever the rest of the crew hit a snag on the current heist. It’s kind of how Gavin is, really; constantly busy, always thinking ten steps ahead, coming up with ideas and making ties with other crews, doing jobs to gain favour and never backing down because he has a  _ reputation _ .

Sometimes maintaining that reputation comes at the cost of Gavin spreading himself a little too thin.

He’s kicking himself for not realising it, now, and he pushes the door open carefully to have a quick peek inside Gavin’s room, just to check. Just like he’d thought, Gavin’s clearly just restocked on all his energy drinks and snacks, probably missed Jeremy by only a few moments, judging by how he’s still getting himself comfortable back in his desk.

He doesn’t look great.

Jeremy’s seen him get like this a few times, now, it’s just kind of something you get used to, Gavin always pushing himself despite the crew’s protests, despite all the interventions and arguments and tears of concern. Sometimes it gets through, sometimes he takes better care of himself, but mostly Gavin just brushes it all off until the others give up.

It’s not new, not surprising, but Jeremy still feels a shock go through him at seeing just how bad Gavin’s let himself get this time, shocked even more that he didn’t  _ see it _ . His hair is so greasy it almost looks wet now, limp and lifeless and so different from his usual wild hair (groomed immaculately to achieve the right look, of course). From what Jeremy can see in the dim light that his computer screen provides, there’s laundry and trash piled up so badly that he can barely see the floor, his bed full of papers, notes, cords for some device and general rubbish. It doesn’t look like it’s been slept on in days. It probably hasn’t been.

He finds himself sighing and pushing the door fully open now rather than just poking his head in, deciding to confront this while he still has this energy. “Hey buddy,” he says softly, taking careful steps into the room, wading through a literal sea of trash, “I just got back, how’re you doing? You just finishing off stuff for the heist?”

Gavin swivels his chair just a little so he can look at Jeremy, then smiles.

Again, he doesn’t look great.

The bags under his eyes honestly just look like bruises now, great, dark, sunken things that tell Jeremy Gavin’s bed has definitely not been slept in for at least three days. His hoodie has weird stains all over, orange and brown and red, some sort of sticky substance on the zipper? That’s just. That’s just great.

Worst of all is the shaking, something he hadn’t noticed from the doorway and can only just now see from up close. It’s not just his hands, it’s his whole body, trembling and weak-looking, mouth still quirked in a smile, but it’s feeble and looks like it’s taking all of Gavin’s effort to pull off.

“Yeah,” he croaks, voice soft and hoarse, glancing back at the screen quickly, “still messin’ with the cops for now, but checking in on the reports, making sure everything’s still right. I’ll be done soon, then I just have the Maston job-”

“The Maston job?” Jeremy asks, yanking Gavin’s chair back around to face him since he’d tried to sneakily get back to work while distracting Jeremy, “I thought that wasn’t until next week?”

Whatever energy Gavin had had to keep up the smile seems to fade, and he goes a little limp under Jeremy’s piercing gaze. “Yeah, well…” he mumbles and shrugs, “Todd asked if I could move it up a bit, says someone told old Maston himself that there was a crew trying to-”

“Gavin. I’m only gonna say this once, buddy, so listen okay? I’m going to call Matt and he’ll take over for now, send him the info and then  _ take a shower _ . I’ll hose you down myself if I have to, but please, go shower and get changed, then get some  _ sleep _ . How long’s it been since you last had any?”

Gavin averts his gaze and shrugs, which tells Jeremy it’s been even longer than he’d thought. At this point he’ll probably be too weak to even properly clean himself.

He sighs. “Alright, guess we should get started then. Go ahead and send that shit to Matt, I’ll text him right now.” Jeremy says and pulls out his phone, watching Gavin out of the corner of his eye to make sure he actually does send through the documents to Matt. Can never be too careful when it comes to Gavin.

“I could have done it.” Gavin says once it’s sent through and Jeremy’s given Matt the head’s up. Really, that in itself is enough of a warning sign to tell Jeremy just how bad Gavin’s let himself get this time. Not fighting back even once? Means Gavin’s really got no energy, nothing left in the tank except fumes and was probably just going to push through like he  _ always  _ does and maybe actually seriously hurt himself this time.

“I  _ know  _ you could have,” Jeremy sighs, “that’s the problem, you could’ve pushed yourself too far if I wasn’t here to stop your stupid ass. You woulda got the job done, but then what, Gav? Keep burning yourself at both ends until there’s nothing left? You need to take a break. Just… Let me take care of you, okay? Can you do that?”

When Gavin gives him a weak nod, Jeremy breathes a sigh of relief, grabs Gavin’s hand and helps him up from his chair, taking on most of his weight on his shoulder when he wobbles dangerously. His arm around Jeremy’s shoulders is warm.

He leads the way to the closest bathroom, Gavin’s room being one of the few without an ensuite—probably a misguided attempt to get him to come out of his room more when it probably just made him stop showering altogether—bringing him into Jeremy’s room since it’s diagonal from Gavin’s.

When he pushes their way in, he sits Gavin against the sink and reaches into the shower to get the hot water going before turning back around and finding himself faced with a dilemma.

Gavin can’t wash himself (Jeremy had known) so Jeremy will have to (he’d also known this too) but that means taking off his clothes (somehow he’d neglected to register this fact) and, in turn, seeing him naked.

So. Dilemma.

But then of course Gavin cocks his head at him and looks at him under his eyelashes, the bags under his eyes striking in this harsh light. 

What is he thinking? So what if this is kind of the worst way to see your (kinda, maybe?) crush naked for the first time? Gavin needs him, that’s all there is to it.

He takes his cowboy hat off, lays it down next to Gavin and runs a hand over the top of his head, mentally preparing himself. Gavin’s still trembling pretty badly, but he doesn’t protest in the slightest when Jeremy tugs his hoodie up and helps lift his arms to release him from it, stays as still as he can while Jeremy’s deft fingers work over the buttons on the shirt underneath and takes a shuttering breath when he gets the last one done and pushes the shirt open.

Jeremy doesn’t think about any of this, keeps his mind blank as he works, pulling Gav’s shirt from his arms and then finally getting to his belt. He doesn’t know how Gavin’s worked in  _ jeans  _ for days on end, but it definitely seems like the kind of thing he’d do. The rest of it is kind of a blur, right up until the point where he’s got a hand wrapped around Gavin’s waist, helping him into the shower under the warm water and getting his hair wet.

“Jeremy, your clothes.” Gavin states plainly, too exhausted to put much emotion into his voice at this point. Jeremy waves him off then uses his free hand to grab the shampoo bottle and squeeze some onto Gavin’s hair.

“I’ll get changed after, the last thing you need right now is to be traumatised by my dick.” He laughs softly, leans Gavin against the shower wall a bit before reaching up and rubbing the shampoo into his hair.

After a few moments, the soap suds in Gavin’s hair turn pink, probably from the blood still left on Jeremy’s hands, so he quickly grabs the shower head and washes them out again, washes his hands too for good measure. Well, Gavin needed a rinse and repeat anyway with how greasy his hair had become.

“Are you traumatised by my dick?” Gavin asks after a few moments of silence while Jeremy puts new shampoo into his hair and starts scrubbing again.

“No!” He says quickly, flushing even more pink than the steam’s already made him, “no… To be honest, I haven’t really looked, Gav. Be kinda rude, right?”

His fingers work through Gavin’s hair methodically and Jeremy watches as Gavin’s eyes slowly close, his head tilting into Jeremy’s grip with every movement like he’s enjoying every second of this. Probably is, since he’s basically getting a free head massage.

“I wouldn’t care if you did, as long as it didn’t traumatise you.” Gavin says, eyes still closed as Jeremy pauses for a moment. God, he’s gonna have a heart attack if this keeps going on.

Instead of saying anything to that (because really, what is he supposed to say? Thanks?) Jeremy grabs the shower head again and carefully washes all the suds away until his hair feels somewhat normal again. He turns to grab the soap, and when he looks back Gavin is staring at him, conflicted and looking like he wants to say something.

“I’ll get what I can,” Jeremy blurts out to break the silence, “but I’m gonna leave the important bits to you, think you can do it?” He asks, rubbing the soap between his hands for a moment before reaching out to rub it against Gavin’s shoulders. He twitches at the touch, but then nods slowly, staring unblinkingly at Jeremy.

It’s kind of unnerving, makes him feel all self-conscious like Gavin’s trying to pick him apart and expose all his flaws or something like that. It’s stupid, obviously Gavin’s just looking at him, probably just lost in his thoughts, probably just tired and staring at him meaninglessly, but it doesn’t feel like that to Jeremy.

He finishes rubbing the soap into Gavin’s shoulders then runs it down his arms, under his armpits, over his chest, turns him around to get his back. His fingers brush over an old scar and Gavin shivers under the touch, his breath hitching slightly; it looks like an old stab wound, all long and jagged, raised on his skin like he’d let it heal naturally instead of getting stitches. Probably did, idiot.

There's a few scars on Gavin’s body, not nearly as many as Jeremy has—which is honestly an insane amount, even for a criminal like him—but still more than he’d expected of someone who mostly stays behind a screen, who always makes sure he’s out of harm's way when he’s playing his Golden Boy persona, always calculated, always protected, always with a backup plan.

All of his scars look old.

He doesn’t mention it, doesn’t say a word as he scrubs over Gavin’s back, careful to avoid lingering on the raised scar as his fingers dig into Gavin’s skin, trying to work out some of the tension there as he cleans because he can feel how fucked Gavin’s back is.

Like he said, he moves past the important bits and gets to scrubbing Gavin’s legs once his back is done, finally starting to feel the weight of his clothes wearing him down now that they’re completely soaked. It’s uncomfortable as hell, and he looks forward to the long shower he’s going to take after getting Gavin to bed, where he can take his time and get the grime off his own skin that’s still leftover from the heist.

He holds Gavin steady as he picks up one of his feet, doing the job quickly because he can tell he’s struggling to keep himself up more and more. Left foot, right foot, then he’s done.

He averts his eyes when Gavin takes the soap from him, watching droplets of water running down the shower screen to distract himself from the awkward tension.

And then they’re done. Jeremy turns the water off and helps Gavin out, wraps him up in a big towel and pulls him back into Jeremy’s bedroom so he can sit him on the bed and dry his hair.

“You can style it later after you’ve had sleep, but for now you’ll have to deal ‘cus I don’t know how to do that shit with your hair.” Jeremy says as he pulls out his hairdryer from the back of the cupboard under the sink. It hasn’t been used since he’s shaved his head, but it still works when he switches it on, so it should be fine.

It only takes a few minutes, then Gavin’s hair is light and fluffy again, a bit flat on the top of his head since it’s not styled, but at least it’s dry. At least Gavin is  _ clean _ , dry and can get changed and go to bed. The hard part is over.

“Jeremy, can I borrow something to wear? All my clothes are dirty.” Gavin asks softly once Jeremy’s finished putting the hairdryer away, looking around his room curiously. Gavin’s never been in his room before.

“Uh, sure buddy, it’ll be big on you though.” Jeremy answers, walking over to his drawers and rummaging around inside them until he pulls out one of his nicer, softer hoodies and a pair of cotton boxers and a pair of old pajama pants that haven’t fit him in forever. He’s suddenly extremely glad he’s been too lazy to go through and clear out all his old shit like he’s been meaning to for months.

“I don’t mind, I like big, comfy stuff,” Gavin says, taking the clothes from Jeremy, “thanks.”

He turns around, letting Gavin get changed in peace before realising that he’s still dripping water all over his floor from his drenched clothes. “Hey, Gav?” He says, “mind if I go take a shower real quick? I wanna go get out of these clothes and wash off all the shit that got on me from the heist. You can just get comfy here, I’ll go sleep in Michael’s bed tonight or something, your room’s too much of a mess to deal with right now.”

“Sorry,” Gavin apologises, “you don’t have to,  _ I _ can go sleep in Michael’s room, or I can sleep on the couch.”

He turns around when Gavin pulls on his jacket sleeve, frowns down at him and sighs, “Gav, you can barely stand as it is, just sleep here okay? It’s fine, I don’t mind.” Jeremy says, then pats Gavin’s hair, switches off his bedroom light and turns back to the bathroom.

Gavin doesn’t say anything else, so Jeremy assumes he accepts it, and he locks the door behind him once he gets into the bathroom. Not that Gavin would come in without knocking even if he  _ could _ , but, still.

He doesn’t take too long, strips off his sopping clothes and dumps them in the hamper, hops in the shower, repeats everything he’d done with Gavin (minus the shampoo part since, you know, no hair) and lets the water run over him, lets it sink into his skin and lets it wash away all the tension deep in his bones. He only allows himself a few minutes of this, doesn’t want Gavin to think he’s up to anything weird, then he turns the water off again.

Jeremy turns off the bathroom light, then peeks back into his room, quietly going to his drawers to grab something for himself to wear with a towel wrapped tight around his waist. The last thing he wants is to flash Gavin if he’s still awake.

He’s just gotten a pair of sweats pulled on underneath his towel when Gavin speaks up, “Jeremy?” he calls softly, voice thick.

“Yeah?” Jeremy says, turning to Gavin’s direction after hangin his towel on the back of his door.

“Stay, okay?” Gavin asks, and Jeremy can see faintly now that his eyes are adjusting as he pats the spot next to him in the bed.

He thinks for a moment, shuffling his feet; probably better if he stayed in Michael’s room, probably better if he slept on the couch, on the floor, anything but next to Gavin where his heart will beat right out of his chest just from the proximity, where he won’t be able to get any sleep all night.

“Okay.” Is his answer, then he’s moving, pulling the covers up and settling himself in next to Gavin. Then there’s a body pressing into his chest, an arm hooking around Jeremy’s waist and a Gavin fully latched onto him.

It’s really, really fucking nice.

Gavin seems to go out like a light once he’s all cuddled up to Jeremy, snoring softly within moments of settling down again and making Jeremy’s heart clench at how… Cute it is.

It’s not cute that he’s gotten to the point where he’s that tired in the first place, but it is cute to see him so peaceful. It’s not something he’s seen a lot of in Gavin, always running a thousand miles a minute, always doing  _ something _ , always joyful or smug or even sad or angry, but peace and Gavin Free don’t often go well in a sentence together.

So yeah, cute. His heart beats a little faster for a bit, and he strokes his fingers through Gavin’s clean hair, wanting almost desperately to kiss the top of his head, to pull him even closer and tuck his head underneath his chin and wrap him up tightly with a hug. He wants all those things and more, but he can’t do any of them without a lingering sense of guilt of Gavin being asleep through all of them, at the fact that Jeremy still hasn’t told him about his feelings yet. It would just feel wrong.

So he doesn’t. He scratches his fingers lightly along Gavin’s scalp and closes his eyes, eventually finds himself drifting off too, falling deeper and deeper into his sleep.

He dreams, then he wakes.

When he does, he notices light slipping through the cracks in his blinds, sounds of the city distant from the ground below, muffled. Gavin looks like he hasn’t moved, still latched securely onto him and snoring a little louder now, but still quiet to Jeremy’s ears. He looks to the clock on his side table, a little surprised when it read 10:30 a.m. 12 hours from when they’d gone to sleep. Jeremy hasn’t slept 12 hours in a long time, hasn’t slept past 7 hours in at least a few months. Maybe it was the heist that had him so tired, but he thinks having Gavin’s warm body all curled up against him might have had something to do with it.

Carefully, he dislodges himself from Gavin, gently pushing his arm off, then pulling the leg that’s hooked around his waist before finally cradling Gavin’s head as he slips from underneath it. Somehow he manages to not wake him up, carefully lifting himself up off the bed and creeping over to the bathroom, slipping inside. He goes to the toilet, brushes his teeth, splashes some water on his face and when he pokes his head back out, Gavin’s still sleeping soundly.

He makes it out to the kitchen without much trouble, the rest of the crew still seeming to be out, probably all still passed out in Geoff’s club after last night. He wouldn’t be surprised if they’d been up till morning.

It’s a few hours before Gavin’s finally awake again, Jeremy having made himself breakfast and settled down into the couch to watch some tv. He’s so quiet coming out that Jeremy doesn’t realise he’s there until Gavin taps him on the shoulder.

“You left me, Lil’ J.” He accuses softly and Jeremy smiles apologetically.

“To be fair, I actually slept like twelve hours in there, it’s not my fault you needed the extra sleep.”

He looks a lot better. Jeremy hadn’t really looked at him this morning, had thought it would be a little creepy to stare at Gavin while he slept and didn’t really get a good look at him, but now that he’s awake he can clearly see. The bags are still there, but barely, only a light brown now rather than a deep grey and his face looks a little less sunken, a little more fresh and bright. He’s not shaking anymore, still moving lethargically but not as weak as last night.

He plops himself down next to Jeremy, then leans his head on his shoulder. Gavin’s always been handsy, always disregarding personal space, throwing himself into people’s laps, grabbing their hands or randomly hugging them, but for some reason this feels different. It’s so casual and familiar, nothing new to either of them and yet-

“You want something to eat?” Jeremy asks, wrapping his arm around Gavin, testing out the waters a little. He’s never been one to be especially affectionate, never really the touchy type, but he’s willing to try if it’s Gavin.

“Mm,” Gavin hums, “That’d be top, J, what have we got?”

“I can make anything you want,” Jeremy says, then brings his hand up to run his fingers through Gavin’s hair, “you want some bacon? Just got some yesterday.”

Gavin tilts his head back into Jeremy’s touch, letting him rake his nails over his scalp and closing his eyes. “Yeah, bacon sounds good.”

He’s sad at the lack of warmth on his side when he stands up to go make Gavin breakfast, but it’s worth it to see the lazy grin on his face. He whips it up quick, gets the bacon nice and crispy, makes some toast and an egg, sunny side up. For good measure, he pours a large glass of orange juice, figuring Gavin will probably need to hydrate after sleeping so long, then brings it all over on a tray and hands it off to him.

Gavin pretty much inhales it all, eats so quickly Jeremy’s worried he’s going to choke or something and chugs the glass of orange juice in just a few seconds once he’d done. 

“Wow. Hungry, huh?” Jeremy laughs and Gavin grins at him sheepishly.

“Yeah, my own fault though innit?” Gavin says, placing the tray down onto the coffee table in front of him and suddenly turning serious, “I’m sorry you had to see me like that, Jeremy, that’s the worst I’ve been in a long time… And I’m sorry you had to take care of me, I shouldn’t have let myself get to that point.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Jeremy punches Gavin’s shoulder lightly, “of course I took care of you, I wanted to. I care about you, Gav. But you’re right, you shouldn’t have let it get that bad. Learn to rely on us, okay? You don’t have to do it alone. Learn to rely on  _ me.  _ Otherwise I’ll just drag your ass right outta that room again and it’ll be really embarrassing for you when I have to hose you down.”

Gavin laughs, then sits back and nudges Jeremy’s shoulder. “Are you… Are you going to tell the guys?” He asks slowly, playing with his fingers and looking down at his lap.

“You know I have to,” Jeremy says, “but… I don’t have to today.” Gavin smiles, then looks up at him through his eyelashes.

“Thanks, J.” He mutters, then bumps Jeremy’s shoulder again. There’s a brief silence, comfortable and warm, leaves butterflies in Jeremy’s stomach at how intimate it is; then Gavin turns to him, gently reaches out to place a hand on the side of his neck and before Jeremy can even register that it’s happening-

Gavin kisses him.

It’s like everything just drains out of him, all the tension in his body, every stress and worry just gone, leaving only him and Gavin. It’s nice, warm, soft, sweet, so many different things all at once, but mostly it’s just  _ fucking perfect. _ Gavin keeps kissing him and Jeremy’s honestly just glad to be here for the ride, but he kisses back as best as he can through his shock.

“Wait, hang on,” Jeremy stops him as Gavin’s hands start wandering (even though he  _ really  _ doesn’t want to, even though he  _ really  _ wants to keep going, to let Gavin do whatever he wants with him), “hang on, Gav. I just… Wanna make sure we’re on the same page here. You’re not just trying to say thank you, are you? Because I really like you and I have for a while and if you don’t feel the same way and you’re just trying to repay me or something-”

Gavin cuts him off with a kiss, then pulls back slowly and smiles, “Now who’s being an idiot?” He teases, “I’ve fancied you for a while, Jeremy and I absolutely would  _ not  _ kiss you to repay you for last night. Although I  _ will  _ be making it up to you, but because I want to, you dope.”

He can’t help but laugh, bumping their foreheads together and giving Gavin another quick kiss. “You can make it up to me by promising you won’t ever burn yourself out like that again, okay?”

“I promise,” Gavin says sincerely, “I’m getting too old to keep doing this shit, anyway, I’m already getting grey hairs! Look.”

He parts his hair a certain way and shows Jeremy where a few of his roots have come back in grey, and he has to laugh at the pout on his face. “At least you’ve  _ got  _ hair.” He runs his hand over his bald head, then shoves Gavin off him when he makes patronising coos.

“Jeremy!”

“Don’t be a prick or you’re not getting anymore kisses!”

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think!! And if you wanna scream with me about Jerevin my tumblr is @ahwuum because honestly they're my fave ship and I'm DYING to talk about them.


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